Television and Political Advertising: Psychological Processes - Vol. 1

11
The Role of Cognitive
Schemata In Determining
Candidate Characteristic Effects

Gina M. Garramone Michigan State University

Michael E. Steele Ithaca College

Bruce Pinkleton Michigan State University

Recent work in political communication has begun to focus on the
cognitive processes by which political message effects are achieved
( Garramone, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986; Garramone, Steele, Hogan, & Rifon, 1987; Graber, 1984; Kraus & Perloff, 1985; McLeod, Kosicki, Pan, & Allen, 1987; Steele, Garramone, & Hogan, 1988). By specifying
the nature of these mediating processes, researchers hope to gain a
greater understanding of the nature of political media effects ( Perloff & Kraus, 1985). One line of research in this area has investigated how both
audience cognitive schemata and media message characteristics may
affect the information processing and subsequent effects of political
messages ( Garramone, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986; Garramone et al., 1987; Steele et al., 1988). This chapter further elaborates these relationships by
investigating the roles of cognitive schemata and candidate characteristics in determining political advertising effects.

The Importance of Candidate Characteristics
in Political Advertising

Dramatic increases in the proportion of campaign costs devoted to
televised political advertising are well-documented, suggesting an increasingly important role of such messages in American politics ( Shyles, 1986). Contributing to the importance of such messages is the fact that
voters claim to learn from them both issue stands and candidate image

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